Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon dominates as competitors raise questions

[djg21]

Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon continues to dominate women’s cycling.

It has not been an easy ride.

Last weekend at the Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, England, the 37-year-old Canadian first set a world record in qualifying for the 35-39 age category 200-meter sprint, then went on to defend her title in the finals.

Her success, however, has been overshadowed by frustrated competitors.

. . . . .

https://nypost.com/2019/10/21/transg...ise-questions/

I’d like to think I’m pretty accepting, but this is troubling. It strikes me as unfair to have a transgender woman compete against cisgender (gender identity matches sex assigned at birth) women. This is one of those questions to which there are no easy answers.

[FlashUNC]

She's a woman. She should ride women's races if she wants to race.

I'm not sure what's so hard about that.

[mtechnica]

There was the same thread about this last year and it didn’t really go anywhere good. She’s at an advantage compared to biological women but apparently claiming that’s unfair makes you a bigot

[charliedid]

Gender Doping is so weird.

[Hellgate]

It apprears the final paragraph sums the argument up well.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

She's a woman.

If only it were that simple.

[prototoast]

One of the best perks of male privilege is not needing to care about the gender of my competitors. Also the NY Post is an incendiary publication that generally has no investment in the sport of cycling. Together that leads me to believe that this is a trap to manufacture outrage, and I'm not falling for it.

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Also the NY Post is an incendiary publication that generally has no investment in the sport of cycling. Together that leads me to believe that this is a trap to manufacture outrage, and I'm not falling for it.

This +100.

Where are the articles written about the races she's lost? I hardly think winning a relative few of the total races she's ridden all year is considered "domination". The original VeloNews article quoted her power/kg ratio as being well below many of those she races against. But those are boring facts that don't sell clicks!

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Louis

If only it were that simple.

It really is. Unless the argument is that she's less of a woman because she's gone through a complex and lengthy medical process to have her sex align with her gender.

[zmalwo]

I have no problem with setting up 4 categories of genders, men, women, trans-women, and trans-men and let everyone compete against each other according to their genders.

[zmalwo]

I identify myself as a heart surgeon thus I'm qualified to do open-heart surgery. yeah Nah, it doesn't go that way.

[fa63]

Watts/kg doesn't mean anything on the track; it is all about power and aero (and she likely has an aerodynamic disadvantage).

I am not taking sides; just wanted to point that out.

Originally Posted by KJMUNC

The original VeloNews article quoted her power/kg ratio as being well below many of those she races against. But those are boring facts that don't sell clicks!

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by zmalwo

I identify myself as a heart surgeon thus I'm qualified to do open-heart surgery. yeah Nah, it doesn't go that way.

There is no licensing board for gender orientation. This is not a serious person’s argument.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

It really is. Unless the argument is that she's less of a woman because she's gone through a complex and lengthy medical process to have her sex align with her gender.

This is the most ridiculous point. Maybe we should realign the categories based on chromosomes instead of “gender.” Like it or not, there are clear distinctions between XX and XY competitors in sports at the elite level. This is across the board in strength and endurance sports. Without exception. It’s completely unfair to women competing. If you want to transition, I respect that and I will refer to you by the pronoun you want, but it’s ridiculous to think that a competitor who used to be a man, doesn’t have an advantage over a woman. McKinnon is a prime example of this because she was nowhere near world class when she was a male. I agree with the categories in one of the strength federations where only cis-gendered women may compete in the women’s category and then everyone else must compete in the open category. That’s as fair as it gets. Just because someone identifies as something does not make it so.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

she's gone through a complex and lengthy medical process to have her sex align with her gender.

I don't see how a "complex and lengthy" process that has nothing to do with athletic competition suddenly means that she can compete fairly in a bike race.

I don't have a solution to the problem, but to say "well, because she's undergone a procedure she can compete against women," that's a massive oversimplification.